1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for treating organic waste water by catalytic oxidation and more specifically to a support structure for a large number of soft ribbon-like contact members that are spread in the vertical direction in order to retain active sludge.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Dipping filter beds employed conventionally for catalytic oxidation of organic waste water make use of an aggregate of a large number of thin pipes or a honey-comb structure but since their size becomes great as a whole, they are difficult to transport or to assemble. Moreover, thin water passages are likely to get clogged because the passages are fixed and once clogging occurs, the operation of the apparatus must be stopped in order to clean the filter bed. The cleaning work itself is not so easy, either. To solve these problems, a dipping filter bed has been developed in which a large number of ribbon-like contact members, consisting of a synthetic fiber and having a large number of fluffs projecting therefrom, extend in the vertical direction.
According to this filter bed, a large number of suspension rods are juxtaposed with one another in the vertical direction of the catalytic oxidation tank and a large number of ribbon-like contact members are spread vertically between the suspension rods. Since the gaps between the implanted ribbon-like contact members serve as the passages for the waste water and since the ribbon-like contact members sway in the water, the filter bed has less tendency toward clogging due to the sludge as compared with the fixed filter bed. However, it is an extremely complicated and troublesome work to fix a large number of ribbon-like contact members at the upper and lower positions inside the tank. If a large number of ribbon-like contact members are fixed in advance to the suspension rods in a factory for shipment and a large number of suspension rods are then arranged vertically at the site of treatment, the long ribbon-like contact members are easily entangled with one another and impede smooth assembly.